30 June 2010 11:34
Chancellor George Osborne has made a personal plea to the chief of one of the world's largest agency networks.
In a widely-reported speech given at the Times newspaper's CEO Summit, Mr Osborne called on Sir Martin Sorrell to return to the UK after the coalition government overhauls the corporate tax system.
He told attendees at the meeting: "I want to reform the corporate tax system so that international companies locate in Britain rather than leave Britain."
Sir Sorrell, the head of WPP, relocated the network's headquarters from the UK to Dublin in 2008 in order to escape the UK's tax regime, which sees firms being levied on all revenues from foreign subsidiaries.
WPP, which owns Ogilvy and Young & Rubicam and Mindshare, earns 90 per cent of its money from its foreign operations.
Before the general election, Sir Sorrell has said that the current system did not allow firms to compete fairly on an international level.
Posted by Stanley Jack
